State awaits winner of $177M

Tuesday

Apr 11, 2017 at 3:35 PM

“We encourage the winner — whomever it might be — to take his or her time before cashing in the ticket. This is a life-changing event,” Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said. “It is a good idea for winners to seek professional advice to help them prepare for how to handle this kind of situation. We also encourage the winner to contact us before coming in. We want to make the process as easy as possible.”

Leigh Hahn / Stuttgart Daily Leader

The winner or winners have until Sept. 27 to come forward for the $177 million jackpot, according to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. That’s 180 days from March 31. So all of Arkansas — and the country — may have to wait several more months to discover the name of the winner of the largest jackpot ticket ever sold in the state.

“We encourage the winner — whomever it might be — to take his or her time before cashing in the ticket. This is a life-changing event,” Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said. “It is a good idea for winners to seek professional advice to help them prepare for how to handle this kind of situation. We also encourage the winner to contact us before coming in. We want to make the process as easy as possible.”

The person holding the winning ticket actually purchased three Mega Millions quick picks at the Valero Stuttgart One Stop, located at 408 E. 22nd St. in front of Walmart in Stuttgart. Two out of the three tickets were winners. The ticket worth $177 million — with a cash value of about $107 million before taxes — matched all six numbers drawn. Those numbers were 17, 24, 27, 32 and 58, plus the Mega Ball number 10. A second ticket won $1, but since the player chose the Megaplier option, he or she won $3 on that ticket, too.

"Yes, yes we did, don’t know who we sold it to yet, of course,” an employee of store said as the lottery officials visited in person.

This a monumental win for the ticket holder, but Arkansas will also benefit when the winner comes forward. This win will equate to about $7 million in state income taxes, a commission of $50,000 for the retailer that sold the ticket and it will help promote the lottery’s mission of providing scholarships for Arkansas students.

The most recent win puts the number of Arkansas Scholarship Lottery-made millionaires now at 55. The last million dollar prize won in the state was Dannie Mitchell, of North Little Rock, who claimed $1 million from a $20 Arkansas Millions instant ticket. The second largest Arkansas Scholarship Lottery winner, from Conway, won $25 million playing Powerball in January of 2010.

What Does $177 Million Look Like?

If you stack 1,770,000 $100 bills, it would stand 637 feet — taller than the Simmons Tower in downtown Little Rock. Stacked $1 bills would equal the length of more than 176 Razorback football fields and would weigh 195 tons. The weight in hundred dollar bills drops to just 1.9 tons.

What Could You Buy With $177 Million?

For all the people who didn’t win the Mega Millions you might ask yourself, “What would I do if I won $177 million?” Here are a few things you could afford:

• Three Gulfstream G550 jets with change to spare for fuel

• A NASCAR team and its driver

• Production of “Star Wars: Episode 7”

• 63-acre waterfront island estate now on sale in Darien, CT

• More than 27 million bowls of the “World’s Best Cheese Dip” at the Heights Tacos and Tamales restaurant in Little Rock

About Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Winners

When the $177 million winning ticket is claimed, the total number of Arkansas lottery-made millionaires will jump to 55.

Based on data from 2016, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery produces one prize winner every 1.4 seconds, more than 40 winners every minute, more than 2,500 per hour, 64,000 per day and nearly two million winners every month.

The luckiest county in the state, with more than four million prize winners in 2016, is naturally the most populous: Pulaski County. But even the “least lucky,” Montgomery County, saw more than 22,000 prize winners last year.

About the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery

Since its inception in 2009, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has provided nearly $700 million for in-state college scholarships to Arkansas students, more than $2 billion in prizes to players, and more than $189 million in commissions to Lottery retailers. More than 92 cents of every dollar of Lottery revenue goes to prizes, scholarships, retailer commissions and other expenses in Arkansas.

To date, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has provided funding for more than 235,000 scholarships to Arkansas students. To apply for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship, visit scholarships.ADHE.edu before the June 1 deadline.

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